title: QuantiFERON-TB Gold and selected region of difference 1 peptide-based assays for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in a cohort of patients enrolled with suspected tuberculosis.
abstract: Recently, a simple whole blood test, QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-Gold), has been adopted for immunologic diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. A total of 369 individuals with suspected tuberculosis (TB) were tested with the QFT-Gold, whereas a subgroup of 62 patients was tested simultaneously with QFT-Gold test and an assay based on selected peptides from early secreted antigenic target 6 and culture filtrate protein 10 proteins. The sensitivity of the QFT-Gold assay for active TB was 72.9%, and the agreement between this test and tuberculin skin test was 75%. Using selected peptides, we found a positive response in the majority of active TB patients, with a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 89%. Our study suggests the usefulness of QFT-Gold in routine clinical practice on unselected patients with suspected TB. Moreover, the assay based on selected peptides is a useful tool to discriminate between active and latent TB and shows a high predictive value.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, "Sapienza" University, Rome 00161, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sauzullo
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mengoni
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lichtner
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Anna P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Massetti
authors.forename: Claudio M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mastroianni
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vullo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*